The TRUTH about Sports

Kobe Bryant returned on Sunday night after missing about 8 months of ball due to an Achilles injury. The Raptors were without Rudy Gay who just got traded to Sacramento. The Lakers, well they were without an inside presence. And so they lost.

Here are the cons of the night: Pau Gasol sucked. He was muscles around, couldn’t get a shot off, and his body language was horrible. I’m glad this is his last year in purple and gold. He also made Amir Johnson of the Raptors look like Bill Russell. Johnson finished with 32 points and 10 rebounds. Another problem is Robert Sacre. Great Mark Madsenesque cheerleader, but this guy shouldn’t be getting any minutes at this level, let alone starting for the LAKERS?!?!?! They need to start Shawne Williams. At least he opens up the floor and can hit a 3. One more problem for those Lakers’ guards,, fouling jump shooters is a no-no. Basketball 101…

As for Kobe, looked a bit rustier than I expected. Too many turnovers (8) and was trying a little too hard to be a distributor. Seems like he also lost a step and the quickness is not there anymore. I’ve gonna wait ’till I pass judgment on him but I expected more than 9 points from him.

Pros: The Lakers bench, they finally have one. Nick Young and Jodie Meeks are instant offense. Jordan Hill is a hustler. I just don’t know why he can’t develop some post moves. Xavier Henry seems a little meatheady but 17 points in 14 minutes… D’Antoni’s gotta find a way to put him in the game. This team is not a contender for the finals. IF they make the playoffs, they will get swept in the first round. But at the very least, it makes the rest of the season a bit more interesting. I gotta admit though, they played a lot better with Kobester on the bench… I’m just saying… Makes you think about that 2 year extension.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am pumped about the NBA season which is set to kick off Tuesday night! Maybe it’s because I’m a Lakers homer, but c’mon, you gotta admit Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant on the same team sounds intriguing? How about the Clippers adding Grant Hill, Odom and Jamaal Crawford? Will Blake’s knee hold up? The scariest move for me was the Heat signing Ray Allen. A consistent shooter on a dangerous team like that. I have them as favorites to win it all. I like what Boston did in picking Jason Terry but it ain’t gonna be enough. Not only are KG and Paul Pierce 1 year older, but they have no depth. I can’t wait for the annual Knicks’ Amare v. Carmelo drama to begin. With Harden gone from OKC (BIG MISTAKE), I can’t see the any legitimate threat for the Lakers in the west. Not even Iguodola in Denver is gonna make a difference. Then again, isn’t it true that every NBA team is 1 injury away from going to the cellar? Look what happened to D-Rose and Chicago. Truth be told, I don’t even think he’s coming back this year. Chicago might end up being a lottery team. Hang on folks, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

Deja vu all over again…Los Angeles Lakers blew another 4th quarter lead tonight, just like they did in game 2. Instead of being up 3 games to 1, the Lakers just kissed their season and hopes of a Championship… GOODBYE. I blame Kobe for game 2’s loss. I blame the team for this one. Changing of the guard, well that happened last year when the Lake Show got swept by Dallas. This was just a reminder for all those Angelinos that thought that the Lakers were going to pull this series out. There’s something toxic, cancerous about this Lakers team. It reminds me of Shaq’s last year. Andrew Bynum was dominating the 1st half. 2nd half, M.I.A. Blame the others for not getting the ball to him. Blame Bynum for not getting open. Blame Mike Brown for not drawing up plays for Bynum. Pau Gasol, I’m done defending this guy. Step aside Dirk Nowitzki, here’s the posterboy for softness. Ramon Session, disappointing is all I can say. Lakers bench, what bench? Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant… Too many errors, too many mistakes, too many bad shots too, too many turnovers. How easy was it for Westbrook and Durant to score? GEEZ, James Harden looked like a superstar. The Lakers are gonna get blasted next game. I promise you that they will lose by double digits. As for the offseason, now would be the time for Jimbo Buss to make a name for himself. Put everyone on the block. Get some heart on this team. To have 3 all-stars on 1 team and no get past the second round for the 2nd year in a row is a joke. If this same team returns next year, you can expect another playoff torching. Buss should call Sterling and maybe join the two teams.

If you thought that the Lakers just didn’t have enough this year to compete, you weren’t the only one. Then something happened: they traded for pg in Ramon Sessions, got PF Jordan Hill, dumped the crap off their payroll (i.e. Luke Walton and Jason Kapono) and then willed their way to 3rd place in the West. Now they’ve beaten the Denver Nuggets twice…handily and are on their way to Denver to steal at least one of the next two games. The Lakers are the only team with 2 legitimate 7 footers that can go drop 20+ points and grab 10+ boards a game. We all know about Kobe. Their only glaring weakness is the bench. I’m concerned about Ron, I mean Metta World Idiot coming back and ruining their flow. Wish the league suspended him for the entire playoffs.

Just 1 week after Dwayne Wade broke Kobe Bryant’s nose and gave him a concussion in an All-star game, Kobe Bryant punched the entire Heat team right in the mouth. In what everyone (including myself) thought was going to be a beat-down by the Lebron led Heat, turned out to be quite the opposite. Bryant came out storming, with 16 points in the first quarter alone. He finished the game with 33. The big men also dominated, with each Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol posting double-doubles. I’m not gonna say it but I’m beginning to see Ron Artest, err Metta World Peace showing flashes of his Sacramento and Houston years when he was averaging close to 20 points again. Don’t count this Lakers team out. Everyone has been giving the crown to the Clippers and not giving the Lake Show a chance. Don’t look now but they have the 4th best record in the West with plenty of time to move past the Clips. Second half of the season should be sick.

As I’m watching the Los Angeles Lakers crumble again late in a game (this time against the Milwaukee Bucks), I can’t help but wonder what a nasty squad this is. How they beat the Clippers 3 days ago befuddles me? They come off a big win against LAC and with 3 days rest, play like shit against a Bucks’ squad that’s missing their all-star center Bogut. The Lakers made Mike Dunleavy look like Jordan. While the Lakers were clinging to a 8 point deficit, it seemed like the Bucks were handing the game to them, missing one shot after another. But the problems was that the Lakers couldn’t hit either. Ron Artest missed 3-pointer after 3-pointer. Kobe Bryant did the same. I don’t think the Lakers dropped the ball into post once in the 4th quarter, and I’m not kidding. Mike Brown, whose hire was a HUGE mistake by the Lakers, needs to man up. This is not Cleveland where the gameplan was “do your thang Lebron.” This is LA with an over-the-hill Kobe and a nasty drop-off after the first 3 options. The only way the Lakers will make a playoff run with this team is if they keep dropping the ball in the post. Their outside shooters are horrendous. Watching them lose tonight was just the icing on the cake. They’ve won 1 road game all year. That is ridiculous! If the playoffs were to start today, they’d be watching them from their homes. The Lakers are a lost cause. They don’t need to trade Bynum and Gasol, they need to get rid of Kobe. I’m sorry for saying that but if there’s 1 thing worse than a has been, it’s someone who doesn’t know that they are one. Tell me you wouldn’t rather see Dwight and D-Will on the Lakers rather than this nasty squad? D-Will, Dwight and Gasol? Looks a lot better than what the Lakers put on the court tonight. Oh well, game on tomorrow against surging Timberwolves. I wonder if Rubio is going to light up Fish? OK, I don’t really wonder.

So it seems like the Los Angeles Lakers are interested in Chris Paul and Dwight Howard. Let’s just say it works cap-wise, how the heck would New Orleans and Orlando basically hand the Lakers the Championship. The Lakers starting lineup would be Chris Paul at the point, Kobe at the 2, Ron Artest at the small forward, Dwight Howard in the middle and Derrick Caracter at power forward? In essence, the Lakers are going all in with this move, if it happens. I do like trading away Andrew Bynum. He’s had knee problems for a while and I don’t think he likes being a 4th option. I’d love to see how he is when he’s the man. Although I’d miss Pau Gasol, getting Howard will give the Lakers a physical presence in the paint. As for L.O., consistency has always been a problem for Lamar. Double-double one game, M.I.A. the next. Getting Chris Paul will finally give the Lakers a true point guard, one they haven’t had since Magic. I can see the Dwight Howard trade happening but not Chris Paul. Paul has made it obviosu that he wants to go to NY to play with Carmelo and Amare. Paul is not an LA guy. He’s East Coast. If the Lakers made this move, it would be the sickest every. Better than the Shaq signing, better than the Pau Gasol. Anyway, Lakers better be good if they want Santa to give them title hopes for the next 5 years…

I’m not gonna sugar coat it. Gasol single handedly blew this game for the Lakers. Turnover after turnover and then fouling Dirk Nowitzki and putting them on the line about 35 feet away from the basket when you’re up by 1 point? What the F!@# is wrong with this guy? And the sad part is that after making mistake after mistake, all Gasol did was make that stupid face like “where’s the foul?” I don’t wanna blame Europeans for being soft because Nowitzki punked Gasol tonight. I have a suggestion for Phil Jackson and the Lakers… start Odom for Game 2. I know, you’re probably thinking that I’m panicking. But that’s not true. Gasol has been playing like a bitch all year. Don’t let his 15-11-7 on the night fool you. All that matters is what happens in the 4th quarter and in this case, Gasol GASUCKED!!! I do think that the refs should’ve called a foul on Jason Kidd at the end of the game. You gotta call it both ways. Don’t worry Lakers fans, they’re still gonna beat the Mavs, it’s just gonna take 1 game longer. I still have the Lakers in 6. Time to bring out the MAMBA!

Just when you thought the Lakers were gonna run the table (sans the loss to the Heat) they go ahead and give up an easy one the Nuggets, at Staples. The rule is this: the more you let a team hang around, the more they start believing that they can win. I’m mean, there’s no one outside Colorado that would ever pick the Nuggets over the Lakers in a 7 game series but anybody can win 1 game. This definitely hurts the Lakers chances of getting the #1 seed in the Western Conference, but is it a bad thing? If the Lakers pass the Spurs (which at this point seems like it’s not gonna happen), they’d have to face the Thunder in a 2nd round playoff matchup and then the Spurs. We all know that the only team that scares the Lakers are the Thunder. If the playoffs start today, the Lakers would face the Mavs in the 2nd round and either the Thunder or the Spurs. So 2nd is not such a bad thing for now. As for the Nuggets, tell me they’re not a 10x better team without Carmelo??? I’m just saying…

All the Sullies in the world can now shut their mouths. All the angry Boson fans in LA can now leave. Dane Cook can jump off the bandwagon he was on for 2 weeks. Maria Menounos can go back to hosting the real world. What a game!!! Karma’s a bitch Celtics. Take your 80s chants of Beat LA, take your nasty chants of “ugly sister,” take your weak-ass chants of “no means no” and shove them up your ASSES!!! To quote the big Shaq Fu, tell me how my ass tastes. First of all, I gotta say, we lucked out. That game was Celtic-controlled for 3 quarters. I think they ran out of legs. Ray Allen, garbage. Paul Pierce, choke city. KG had a half decent game for a player his age. Rajon Rondo, as much as I dislike him, is the sickest point guard in the NBA. He needs to practice his outside J. Enough of the crap, let’s talk showtime. Poor game by Kobe Bryant, but he came through with a couple of clutch plays in the 4th. Legacy, shlegacy, he found a way to win with his 15 rebounds. Ron Artest, game MVP in my book. Played more minutes than anybody (46). His line, 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals. HUGE!!! I couldn’t be happier for a person winning the title. This guy deserves it more than anyone. Derek Fisher, clutch. Biggest shot of the game, tying it up with a 3 (from range) at 64. Great game by Gasol on paper. His double double was solid but he did shoot poorly (6-16). Probably the most consistent Laker this finals. Should’ve got the MVP though. Lakers FTs almost cost of this game. But now, we can chill. Relax in LA this summer and wait ’till the ring ceremony next season. I do have to reconsider my Kobe is better than Jordan stance though. I LOVE LA!!!